Crock Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup

Here in the Northeast, it appears that the weather roller-coaster has finally come to an end. While I'm sad to see the warm weather go, with the cool fall weather comes soup season! 
This Crock Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup is one of our favorite cold-weather soups. Packed with veggies, meat and rice, this filling soup is a meal in itself. However, it's perfect with a side of skillet cornbread and maybe garnished with a bit of cheese. It reminds me of chili, but without the spice. While Hubby doesn't like stuffed peppers, he really enjoys this soup and will actually ask me to make it. 

I love this soup because it's easy to throw together (I love how the crock pot does all the cooking for you!),  and it makes enough for a crowd. We almost always have rice, diced tomatoes, and marinara sauce in the pantry, and our freezer is usually stocked with ground meat and peppers from our garden, so this is an easy meal to put together if we are having company. Last year, when Hurricane Sandy left my parents without power for close to two weeks, we made a special trip to bring them a crock full of hot Stuffed Pepper Soup and a can of gas for their generator. I have fond memories of sitting around my parent's kitchen table by candlelight, being warmed by hot soup and family.

Crock Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup 

Adapted From What Megan's Making 
Serves: About 8

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, venison, or a combination)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups chopped frozen green pepper (or 2 fresh peppers)
• 2 15oz cans (or 2 home-canned pints) diced tomatoes, undrained 
• 1 jar of marinara sauce
• 1 cup brown rice (not instant)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp parsley  
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 2 rounded Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp pepper 
  

Directions:

1. Brown the ground meat in a large skillet and drain off fat. OR use thawed frozen, pre-cooked meat.
2. Dump the cooked beef, onions, chopped green peppers, tomatoes, marinara, rice, garlic, parsley, oregano, brown sugar, salt and pepper into a 6 quart or larger crock pot. Add roughly 1.5 sauce jars of water and stir. 
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If needed, stir in extra water before serving.

This recipe could easily be cut in half if you have a smaller crock pot. However, if you make a full batch, it freezes well. When I make this for our family of three, I usually freeze half in a gallon ziplock bag for another time.  

Update: Recently, we were over at a friend's house for dinner and she made this recipe replacing one pound of meat with a can of kidney beans and a bag of frozen corn. It was a delicious variation of the recipe! 

For more crock pot recipes, check out this post about Freezer Kits.

And this post has tips on freezing soup, including this one.